2016 Marimar Estate Don Miguel Vineyard Syrah Russian River Valley 750 ml

Scads of 4- and 5-star member reviews. A friendship forged long before the hype machine anointed Marimar Estate—which was founded by Marimar Torres, the only daughter of Miguel Torres, Spain’s counterpart to Robert Mondavi—the next big thing in Sonoma. A dozen vineyard visits, and just as many barrel tastings that stretched past sundown.

They all led to the 2016 Marimar Estate Syrah, whose story begins in Marimar’s Don Miguel Vineyard. The site, an outlier in the foggy Green Valley area of Russian River, is planted in a European-style high density of over 2000 vines per acre. That means the kind of intensive labor and low yields that would turn many vintners away—but for Marimar, it all pays off in longer-living vines and grapes that boast superb balance, fantastic concentration, and gorgeous elegance and finesse.

On paper the wine is impressive—but wait till you taste it in the glass. Warm and spicy on the nose, the wine is endowed with rich, black-fruit aromas accented by clove, cinnamon, and fresh rose petals and violets. Notes of roasted game reflect this wine’s serious side, while the palate is plump, voluminous, and polished, with a spicy, floral lift lasting all the way to the finish.